Look up The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I know that for me (as an Australian) the price on Amazon is dearer as an e-book than as a hardback or paperback but Amazon is geolocked so prices might be different for Americans.
E-Books or Paper Books??
- Thread starter HaventGotALife
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Look up The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I know that for me (as an Australian) the price on Amazon is dearer as an e-book than as a hardback or paperback but Amazon is geolocked so prices might be different for Americans.
Texts, journals, magazines, non-fiction stuff with maps or diagrams = on paper.
Late night in bed reading fiction = Ipad via IBooks or Kindle.
Late night in bed reading fiction = Ipad via IBooks or Kindle.
Just to derail the thread, is The Book Thief any good? I hear everyone talking about it. Is this a classic I missed somewhere along the way?
I much prefer paper books, but geting older takes its toll: one can't change focus from far to near anymore so that one needs reading glasses and glasses for things far away and glasses for needlework and computer glasses. Frustrating.
So about 4 years ago I started to use an ebook reader where I can set the font to a size I can read with whatever glasses I just happen to have at hand. Or without any.
Being conservative, though, I think that an ebook reader should be exactly that and not a shopping device, web-browser, radio or video player. Nor would I want the NSA to know what bedtime reding I prefer. That's why I boycott modern readers and use an ancient (but excellent and extremely lightweight!) Sony reader.
So about 4 years ago I started to use an ebook reader where I can set the font to a size I can read with whatever glasses I just happen to have at hand. Or without any.
Being conservative, though, I think that an ebook reader should be exactly that and not a shopping device, web-browser, radio or video player. Nor would I want the NSA to know what bedtime reding I prefer. That's why I boycott modern readers and use an ancient (but excellent and extremely lightweight!) Sony reader.
I buy a mix of paper and e-books. I have the Kindle app on my phone and my tablet, and I also have iBooks on the phone. It's good for travel, or waiting rooms. The way I usually decide which to buy, though, is "am I likely to read it more than once?" If I am, I get a paper book (and usually paperback, I have few hardcovers). There are also books like crochet and needlework pattern books, and coffee table books that are mainly photos, that just HAVE to be in print. They work better that way.
I use a similar decision making process when I buy music. A CD can be ripped to mp3 anyway, or now Amazon will give you a free download when you purchase the CD. I have a huge collection of cassettes and vinyl too. I'm not giving that up anytime soon. I do need to get a copy of McCartney's Red Rose Speedway without a scratch and skip, though. No idea what those songs sound like without the skip.
I use a similar decision making process when I buy music. A CD can be ripped to mp3 anyway, or now Amazon will give you a free download when you purchase the CD. I have a huge collection of cassettes and vinyl too. I'm not giving that up anytime soon. I do need to get a copy of McCartney's Red Rose Speedway without a scratch and skip, though. No idea what those songs sound like without the skip.
I like both. I have a 2nd gen Kindle, but sometimes when I'm ordering a book on Amazon and if the paperback price is cheaper than the Kindle price, I'll go for paperback. When I used to travel a lot, the Kindle was the way to go, but now I just go for whatever is cheaper.
For me, it's not about price or portability at all (I don't travel very regularly at the moment).
If there is literally no alternative (which for some US-based literature, there isn't, at least over here in Germany) I do read e-books on my tablet. I don't really mind them, although I wouldn't consider buying a dedicated reader device at this point. I just don't read enough e-books.
Whenever I can get my hands on a traditional, paper-based book, I prefer the oldschool way of reading.
If there is literally no alternative (which for some US-based literature, there isn't, at least over here in Germany) I do read e-books on my tablet. I don't really mind them, although I wouldn't consider buying a dedicated reader device at this point. I just don't read enough e-books.
Whenever I can get my hands on a traditional, paper-based book, I prefer the oldschool way of reading.
I started reading some of the 'classics', I'd never gotten around to before, a couple of years ago.
Here is how that worked: I'd find a short-story or novel that I wanted to read (or a volume that contained what I wanted), then go to the local book-pusher (as I love trying to keep local shops alive) to see if they would be able to find it for me... More and more often I would be in a position where the only available option was to order a 'print on demand'-version which is not a thing I could (or can) afford to do a lot of.
Since most of the books I read are (written) in English, the older ones aren't on the shelves in shops around here, nor are they easy to find 2nd hand, but on-line I could find all the things I wanted to read; some of it in the form of used paperbacks and some as e-books (and some of those even for free!).
Add to that, that I am rarely reading only one book at a time, and you have me down as your somewhat archetypical e-book reader reader. (huh?! is that what one is when reading books on an e-book reader?)
The Kindle has been one of the best purchases I've ever made! (I also have the PRS-T1 (from Sony) but that device I only use for reading library books; it handles the PDF format a bit better than the Kindle and all library e-books (for DRM-reasons) in Denmark are in PDF.)
Sure, I still buy DTF (Dead Tree Format) books every now and then; just bought The Story of Film as a 2nd hand hardback and paid only about 8 dollars for it (but it cost me 3-4 times that to have it delivered
) and I do own a complete H2G2 in hardback -but I've never actually used it as I have my beat up old paperback of the first four parts of the trilogy... complete with all of my own annotations, marks and folded pages (what is the english word for folding one corner of a page to mark a position in a book?)
I should mention that I don't 'collect' anything; I tend to view a book as a medium for storage of data, the same way you'd view a floppy-disc or a CD or what have you...
Sure, I can understand the love of owning something special and old (antique even) I just never felt that way about books! -and would prefer the (used) paperback to the hardback any day -especially as I can't seem to read without writing (or at the very least marking certain passages) (again something it's easier to do on an e-book reader as you don't need to use a pen for a bookmark!).
Here is how that worked: I'd find a short-story or novel that I wanted to read (or a volume that contained what I wanted), then go to the local book-pusher (as I love trying to keep local shops alive) to see if they would be able to find it for me... More and more often I would be in a position where the only available option was to order a 'print on demand'-version which is not a thing I could (or can) afford to do a lot of.
Since most of the books I read are (written) in English, the older ones aren't on the shelves in shops around here, nor are they easy to find 2nd hand, but on-line I could find all the things I wanted to read; some of it in the form of used paperbacks and some as e-books (and some of those even for free!).
Add to that, that I am rarely reading only one book at a time, and you have me down as your somewhat archetypical e-book reader reader. (huh?! is that what one is when reading books on an e-book reader?)
The Kindle has been one of the best purchases I've ever made! (I also have the PRS-T1 (from Sony) but that device I only use for reading library books; it handles the PDF format a bit better than the Kindle and all library e-books (for DRM-reasons) in Denmark are in PDF.)
Sure, I still buy DTF (Dead Tree Format) books every now and then; just bought The Story of Film as a 2nd hand hardback and paid only about 8 dollars for it (but it cost me 3-4 times that to have it delivered
) and I do own a complete H2G2 in hardback -but I've never actually used it as I have my beat up old paperback of the first four parts of the trilogy... complete with all of my own annotations, marks and folded pages (what is the english word for folding one corner of a page to mark a position in a book?)I should mention that I don't 'collect' anything; I tend to view a book as a medium for storage of data, the same way you'd view a floppy-disc or a CD or what have you...
Sure, I can understand the love of owning something special and old (antique even) I just never felt that way about books! -and would prefer the (used) paperback to the hardback any day -especially as I can't seem to read without writing (or at the very least marking certain passages) (again something it's easier to do on an e-book reader as you don't need to use a pen for a bookmark!).
I prefer Paper Books.I like holding a book in my hands.
For me, e-books have taken the place of the mass-market paperback. For something I want to have for long-term reference, or with a lot of maps, illustrations and so on (mostly non-fiction) I go with the hardcover. It's definitely a well-proven technology, and you can find a lot of out-of-print hardcovers online, in great shape and for very reasonable prices.
As for the carbon footprint of the e-reader, I feel pretty good about that. I have had the same Kindle for going on five years now and it still seems in good shape. I did replace the battery after about three years, and it goes almost two weeks between charges with everyday use.
As for the carbon footprint of the e-reader, I feel pretty good about that. I have had the same Kindle for going on five years now and it still seems in good shape. I did replace the battery after about three years, and it goes almost two weeks between charges with everyday use.
I do want to point out, like others have said, that there is a big difference between reading on an e-reader and tablet. E-reader technology has greatly improved, and allows me to read as if I am reading a paper book. However, tablets use the typical LCD screen technology and therefore give me a massive headache if I try to read for any length of time on them. If you have only read on a tablet and didn't enjoy the experience, you might feel differently if you tried an e-reader instead.
^Yep, a backlit LCD isn't very good to read longer texts on - Plus they're increasingly difficult to read with increasing level of ambient light: and totally impossible to see anything on in direct sunlight.
I actually prefer regular paper books, but by now I have about twice as many books as I have book shelf space, so I got a Kindle paper white and bought a few Tolkien ebooks to try it out. It's not the same thing, but it's surprisingly easy on the eyes. On the plus side, you can carry around dozens of books and it weighs next to nothing. On the down side, you can't smell the book...that's actually something I like to do. Regular books have more flair, but ebooks are more practical. So there.
I know this problem all too well...
The trick is to make literal book shelves. That is, use the books to build shelves to stack more books. This works great in the corner of a closet. What I do is use thick heavy books as the sides and then big encyclopedia-type books for the planks. And then lay lighter books on them.
^^ Yep. There's a practicality to e-books. But reading isn't always done for purely practical reasons. The aesthetic reasons (from the enjoyment of the story, to the tactile and olfactory joys) make a difference, too. Also, the progress bar/indicator on an e-reader isn't as gratifying a measure of progress through a book as is seeing how many pages I've actually read.
You know, I wonder if there will ever be a market for book-sized ebooks. Like whenever they get liquid crystal pages figured out (right after they finish with transparent aluminum), where you decide what to read and the "book" transforms.
Well, all this discussion, I had to check it out. Sacrilegious, yes. But with people saying "it so convenient," you started to get to me. So I downloaded the app and the 3 books that came with it. Unlike a newspaper and the internet, it is actually easier for me to read a paper book. I can't smell it! It's not that I want to smell my book, it just smells. It's not that I want to hold my book, but I was left with those two overriding impulses-I cannot smell or touch this book! I don't know if this is appropriate in this forum, but it's like the difference between having sex and watching porn. I can't describe how frustrating it was after I truly started thinking about this book as my only outlet for books! It would drive me absolutely crazy to read like this. It is not on my computer any more. Anyway, that was my brief journey with the Kindle App.
I couldn't read a book on the computer but reading it on a Kindle or an iPad is different than reading off a computer.
It seems that I am one of the few people here that prefer using an iPad rather than a kindle for my e-reader. I do own both and I always use my iPad to read an e-book inside. I lower the brightness of the screen and use a sepia background.
I used to use the Kindle outside but that has been mainly replaced by listening to books on my ipod. I suffer from nausea if I try to read on a bus so it is nice to be able to listen to a book instead. i also listen to books while i do the housework or while I do craftwork.
As to the question I was asked earlier -
The Book Thief was one of those books that I enjoyed listening to enough to buy the paperback version for my shelves. I liked that Death told the story, and that young Liesel loved books so much that she would read almost any book she came across despite them being so few and far between.
It seems that I am one of the few people here that prefer using an iPad rather than a kindle for my e-reader. I do own both and I always use my iPad to read an e-book inside. I lower the brightness of the screen and use a sepia background.
I used to use the Kindle outside but that has been mainly replaced by listening to books on my ipod. I suffer from nausea if I try to read on a bus so it is nice to be able to listen to a book instead. i also listen to books while i do the housework or while I do craftwork.
As to the question I was asked earlier -
The Book Thief was one of those books that I enjoyed listening to enough to buy the paperback version for my shelves. I liked that Death told the story, and that young Liesel loved books so much that she would read almost any book she came across despite them being so few and far between.
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